Mirrored Exile (HS)

eighty one

chapter eighty one - for reasons unknown

Lucy Caddel

I'll just have to pay you back Were the words repeating in my head while I filled the tank at the gas station.

Harry had lowered himself in the backseat using a hood to cover his face in case anyone saw him. His face was very well-known now and people would be hunting him down everywhere because of the price they have put on him.

"There should be money in my wallet," Harry tells me from the backseat.

I see the black leather wallet shoved into the middle console. I open the door and reach over, still keeping my eyes observing the people around me. It was mostly quiet, just three other cars. Two were parked and one was at another bay. It was still early morning but this gas station was on a motorway.

"Okay, don't move. I'll be back." I shut the door and locked it with the key.

I entered through the sliding doors of the building and headed straight for the register

"What bay are you?"

"I'm number three," I point through the window to where the Nissan is parked with Harry locked inside.

"Your total is $49.85,"

I flip open the wallet to cash and the one photo of Harry and I from that photo strip. I slip out a 50, handing the worker my cash. My anxiety levels rise when he looks at the picture in Harry's wallet. I quickly snap it shut as he hands me the change.

"Thank you." I leave in a rush with the bathroom catching my eye. I make a beeline and dart through the door to the first cubicle.

This bathroom was cold. Colder than the temperature outside. Concrete walls, hard floor tiles, and the metal sink added to my body's chill as I washed my hands. The mirror in front of me was cracked straight through the middle, contorting my face and my body. I am still in jeans and Harry's T-shirt from last night.

"Veronica?"

I turn around to the familiar face of a man. It takes me a minute to recognize him and the taller figure behind him.

"It's Alonso, remember me?"

I wish I didn't remember him.

Harry and I didn't exactly leave it on good terms with Alonso and his bodyguard. I didn't see how he was left, but I knew Harry left with a wound at his waist from a wine glass. He recently got the stitches out so now it's just a fading scar.

My body freezes under the deep glare of his dark eyes. I'm now also realizing the man behind him, was that same bodyguard. He was dressed in different attire. More casual than the typical black uniform.

"I said you would see me again, didn't I?" He raises his eyebrows, then looks at Harry's wallet clutched in my hand.

"Hand it over," he said forwardly, stepping closer.

I snapped my hand back out of his reach and behind my back. There's a shift in his body language and I quickly learn that he has just as much impatience as a spoilt child.